Gearing device for washing-machines and wringers.



W. J. SGHOONOVBR.

GEARING DEVICE FOR WASHING MACHINES AND WRINGERS.

APPLICATION HLED P2116 1N1.

1 079582. Patented Nov. 25, 1913.

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witnesses W. J. SCHOONUVER. GEARING DEVICE FOR WASHING MACHINES AND WRINGERS.

APPLICATION rum rum. 1911 1 979,582, Patented Nov. 25, 1913.

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W. J. SCHOONOVER, GEARING DEVICE FOR WASHING MACHINES AND WRINGERS.

APPLICATION FILED FEELS 1911 Patented Nov. 25, 1913 S SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

WILLIAM J. SCHOONOVEE, OF DES MOINES, IOWA.

GEARING DEVICE 2 FOR WASHING-MACHINES AND WBINGEBS.

Application filed February 6, 1911.

[0 all 20. 20721 it may conccm Be it known that l, iming J. SCHUON- oven, :1 citizen of the lnited i "ties, residing at i: '1 in the county of Folk and have invented a certain new Fatatc of low}. and useful Gearing Device for ashing Machines and 'Viringers, oi which the following is specification.

The invei ion relates to tiat class of gearing devi es in which power applied from sui able motor and this power tranni'cted either to an alternating rotary agitator or to the wringer roll and the wringer rolls are provided with me" whereby their movement. may be. reve The object of my invention is to prm it a. gearingdevice of this class of simple and compact. construction in which the, entire gearing); device is supported either upon the wringcr frame or the hinged cover of the washing machine, the advantage of this con struction being that. both of these parts may be readily and handled when bling the gearing devices and then they may be applied to the large and cumbersome tub and connected with each other readily and easily.

More specifically it is my object: to pro vide improved and simplified means tor transmitting power from rotary driving shaft on the wringcr frame to the alternating rotary agitator shaft in the washing machine cover in suche manner that the cover may be raised or lowered or held at any point of its movement. without in any way attracting the operation of the agitator shaft and without throwing any gearing devices into or out oi mesh.

A further object. is to provide a gearing" device of this kind in \Ylhiih the belt connected to the driving shaftand the gearing devices for operating the agitator are all arranged on the side of the machine toward which the cover moved when being opened so that the operator may stand on the side of the machine opposite from the hinged edge of the cover and have access to the interior of the washing machine and to the wringcr without danger of coming into contact with the driving beltor the agitator operating mechanism.

iIy invention consists in certain details, in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 25, 1913.

Serial No. seems.

pointed out, in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a rear elevation of a part of a washing machine and a Wringer having my improved gearing device applied modified form of my invent-ion in which an' electric motor and a speed reducing gear device are provided below the body of the washing machine for operating the driving shaft of the gearing mechanism, and Fig. 7 shows an enlarged, detail, sectional View illustrating the action between the pitman and the crank wheel which drives it.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, I have used the reference numeral 10 to indicate the washing machine body or tub having at its; top a hinged cover 11 and a stationary cover member 12 fixed to the tub. The hinges for connecting the hinged cover member to the stationary one are provided.

with raised central portions, thus bringing the hinge pint-lee 13 a considerable distance above thetop of the cover for purposes hereinafter made clear. Mounted at the center of the hinged cover is the agitator shaft; 14 having a pinion 15 thereon. A segmental rack 16 is pivoted to a short shaft 17 fixed to the cover near the hinged edge thereof. Said segmental rack is provided on its side opposite from its pivotal point with an arm 18 extended outwardly and upwardly as shown in Figo. It is provided at its outer end with a tubular bearing 19 and in this hearing is rotatably mounted a short shaft 20 having a forked head 21. Inserted in said forked head is o pitman 22 and a pin 23 is extended through the forked head and through the pitman to pivotally connect them. The opposite end of said pitman is screw threaded at'Q L for purposes herein- :it'tcr made clear. I

By the arrangement just described, it is obvious that when a reciprocating motion is means and without any way interfering with the operation of agitator shaft. During the raising or lowering of the cover no gearing devices of kind are thrown either into or out of mesh, thus avoiding all ossibility of breaking or injuring gear evices by throwing them into or out of gear when the cover is raised or lowered.

The wringer proper is of ordinary construction and comprises a frame 25 and two.

wringer rolls 26 and 27. In the construction of washing machines and wringers it is common to employ hardwood for the manufacture of the wringer frames and these frames are usually made extremely strong and durable. On the other hand it is customary to employ relatively soft wood such as cypress in the construction of washing machine tubs. It therefore is desirable to attach the gearing mechanism to the strong and durable wringer frame made of hardwood rather than to the washingmachine body. I therefore apply to the wringer frame two brackets, one of which is provided with a bearing 28 for the -power shaft 29 and also with an extension 30 con taining a short stationary shaft 31 for the gear wheel 32. The other end of the power ,shaft 29 is supported by means of a bracket 33, which bracket has a bearing 34 for the power shaft 29 and a bearing 35 for a wringer driving shaft hereinafter described. These two brackets 28 and 33 are both provided with flanges 30 which are fitted to the exterior of the washing machine body 10 and are firmly secured thereto by bolts or screws "to thereby firmly unite the wringer frame to the tub. The wrin 'er frame 25 is also secured to the tub by means of bolts 0r screws 31.

The means for" transmitting power from the power shaft 29 to the pitman 22 comprises pinion 36 rotatably mounted on the. pow shaft and provided with a clutch "ember 37. ()n the power shaft adjacent thereto is a sliding clutch member 38 and are provided, as hereinafter described, for moving the sliding clutch memher into or out of engagement with the rotarv clutch member 37. The said pinion 36 is in mesh with the gear wheel 32. This gear wheel carries a crank pin 39 and rotatably mounted upon the crank pin is a head 40 having a screw threaded socket 41,

into which the screw threaded end of the pltman 22 is seated. As shown in Fig. -7, the bearing surface of the head 40 on the cram; pin 39 is slightly rounded to thereby 'cover is .raised the noracee permit a slight movement of the socket portion 4'? toward and away from the adjacent side of the gear wheel 32. By this arrangement a number of advantageous results are attained. In the first place the means for driving the agitator shaft'from the power shaft 29 is of extremely simple construction. None of these parts are thrown out of gear at any time during the operation of the machine, thus danger of injury is avoided when throwing said parts into or out of gear. The cover may be freely raised or lowered whether the gear wheel 32 is being operated or is standing idle. As the itman 22 is necessarily partly rotated while the socket 41 into which the pitman is screwed is held against suchrotation. The provision of the screw thread at this point permits of this slight rotation and it also prevents any longitudinal movement between the socket and the pitman except a slight longitudinal movement caused by rotating the pitman relative to the socket. The movement of the outer end of the arm 18, when the cover is being raised and lowered, is almost in a straight vertical line. However it is necessarily on a segment centered at the pivotal point of.

the cover and therefore it is necessary to provide for a slight movement between the pitman 22 and the crank pin 39;. This however canbe easily provided for by making connections at the ends of the pitman with a slight amount of play.

. The means for rolls comprises a shaft 42 mounted in the bearing 35 and havin thereon two beveled pinions 43 and 44. T 1e former is normally operating the wringer in mesh with a beveled pinion 45 'fixed to. v

the power shaft 29 so that the shaft 42 is constantly rotated when the power shaft 29 is rotated. Above the beveled. pinion 44 is v a horizontal shaft 48, which shaft is the one on which the lower wringer roll 27 is fixed. On this shaft 46 are two beveled pinions 47 and 48, each rotatably mounted and each being in mesh with the beveled pinion 44 on opposite sides of its center. Between the beveled pinions 47 and 48 is a clutch member 49 slidingly and non-rotatably mounted and capable of being brought into engagement with either of the beveled pinions. 47 or 48 to thereby provide for rotating the lower wringer roll in either direction. This reverse-gearing mechanism is ihclosed in a suitablecasin 49'.

For contro ling the movement of the wringer rolls, I have rovided an u' right rod 50 mounted in a racket 51 an pro vided with a spring 52 to yieldingly hold it in a downward direction. This rod is pro vided with a crank arm 53 in engagement with the clutch member 49 and -at the top of the rod 50 is a. horizontally arranged handle 54 in position to engage a notched bracket fixed. to the Wringer frame. These par": are so arrarwcd that "when the hartin its neutral position, the

ciutch member 49 will be out of engagement Wit-i: l. ,1 pinions i? and and x said handle 5 lnio ed in either nirection i extreme position, the clutch member 1 9 I l he in mesh with one or the other of the pinions 4'7 and to ccntroi the move "tent of the member I have provided a lever 5dfulcrumed to the Wringer frame at 57 and provided with a handle 58 projected to position adjacent to the handle 54: and conveniently arc" ihlc to an operator standing at. the side of the washing machine opposite the hinged edge of the cover thereof. Fixed to the Wringer frame is a stationary arm 59 and in order to yicldingly hold the lever 58 in various positions of its adjustment, I provide zmsion oar 6O the lever 56 provided with a bolt til. and a tension spring on the bolt to yieldingly grip the arm 59 between the lever 58 and the tension bar 60. said lever in one position of its cnt. as shown in Fig. 1, the power i ill he operated to run tae wring-er which however may be thrown by the r. .l 50, and lien in this is goat-wheel will remain idle. owever the dutch member is n engagement- With the clutch member 37 the power shaft 2.) will he re and the gear Wheel Will also be rotated. In order to operate the power shaft, l have provided a pulley 62" fixed to the end of it. opposite from the reverse gear mechanism for the wringcr and designed to receive a belt.

In the modified form shown in Fig. I

have provided means vor en'iploying an elec trio motor to drive the power shaft. Where an electric motor 3S used, it. is desirable to have some means for reducing the speed thereof applied to the power shaft and for this purpose I have provided a speed reducing gearing mechanism indicated by the numeral 63 and this mechanism is connected with the power shaft by means of a belt 6tand pulleys and 36.

In practice, my improved gearing device has a number of advantages in so far the construction and asse 'nblin of the parts is concerned in that most of the gearing mechanism is permanently attached to the wringer frame which may be made strong and durable enough to withstand the strains to which the gearing device is subjected. The rest of the mechanism is connected to the hinged cover and may he applied thereto htfore the cover is attached to the Washmachine body so that the operator in asscmhling the machine need only handle the vringe frame and the cover, as all of the gearii'ig devices are attached to these parts,

frame and cover may he Washing inachnzc in the or-di and when thus attached the 22 may be to connect these parts.

Th at com p ri vv r1 n K part of the gearing device which 5 the power shaft supported on the K frame, the gear wheel driven from the power shaft, the pitman and the pivoted rack contains many advantages in practical use in devices for this purpose. First, it is oi extremely simple and inexpensi e construction. Second, the hinged cover may he raised and lowered at any time without danger of injury to the moving parts and regardless of whether or not the agitator shaft is running. Furthermore no gears of any kind are disconnected during this operation and hence need not be again thrown in mesh when the cover is lowered as this opcrat. n of throwing gearing devices into mesh when thecover is lowered is one that is likely to cause injury to the gear Wheels.

Another advantageous feature is the arrangement of the reversing mechanism forthe Wringer which is supported on the same bracket on which the power shaft is mount.- ed and hence the coacting gears on the power shaft and on the reverse mechanism are always held in mesh with each other and no strains to which the machine may be suh jected will tend to alter their relative positions. It is also advantageous to group the belt wheel for the power shaftand all of the gearing mechanism for operating the agitator shaft on that side of the machine toward which the hinged cover is moved When being elevated so that an Opt-)PiltOI standing-on the opposite side of the machine may have free access to the interior of the tub, and to the Wringer Without danger of being caught or entangled in said gearing mechanism.

in the following claims the term main support is uscd to indicate the Washing machine tub or an equivalent; the Word frame is used to indicate the frame of a Wringcr or its eq'uivalent; the term vertically arranged driven shaft to indicate the agitator shaft; the term horizontally arranged driven shaft to indicate one of the wring-er rolls. and the term hinged sup porting member to indicate the cover of the tub.

I claim .as my invention:

1. In a gearing device of the class described. the combination of a main support, a hinged supporting member thereon, the pivotal point of said hinges being arranged above the top of the hinged support, a. vertically arranged driven shaft in the hinged support. a pinion thereon, a segmental rack in mesh with the pinion pivoted to the hinged support, said segmental rack having an arm connected therewith and extcndcd outnardly beyond the hinged support and inclined upwardly, a pitinan connected to the outer end of said arm being capableof universal movement relative to said arm,

2. In a gearing device of the class described, the combination of a main support, a hinged supporting member thereon, the pivotal point of said hinges being arranged above the top of the hinged support, a vertically arranged driven shaft in the hinged support, a pinion thereon, a segmental rack in mesh with the pinion pivoted to the hinged support, said segmental rack having an arm connected therewith and extended outwardly beyond the hinged support and inclined upwardly, a pitman connected to the outer end of said arm and beihg capable of universal movement relative to said arm, the end of said pitman opposite from said arm being screw threaded, and a socket member having said screw threaded end seated therein, and means applied to said socket member for reciprocating the pitman.

3. In a gearing device of the class described, the combination of a main support, a hinged supporting member thereon, the pivotal point of said hinges being arranged above the top of the hinged support, a vertically arranged driven shaft in the hinged support, a pinion thereon, a segmental rack in mesh with the pinion pivoted to the hinged support, said segmental'rack having an arm connected therewith and extended outwardly beyond the hinged support and inclined upwardly, a pitman connected to the outer end of said arm and being capable of universal movement relative to said arm, the end of said pitman opposite from said arm being screw threaded, a socket member having said screw threaded end seated therein, means applied to said socket member for reciprocating the pitman, said means comprising a gear wheel having a crank pin thereon, and a head on the socket member having said crank pin inserted in it.

4. In a gearing device of the class described, the cpmb.inatio-n,of a main support, a hinged support thereon, the hinge oint novasse with and extended outwardly beyond the hinged support and inclined upwardly, and provided at its outer end with a horizontally arranged bearing, a shaft rotatably mounted in said bearing, a forked head for the shaft, a pitman mounted in said forked head and capable of pivotal movement in a horizontal plane relative to the forked head,

the other end of said pit-man being provided with a screw threaded port-ion, a socket member having said screw threaded portion screwed into it to, permit a slight rotary movement of the pitman relative to the socket member, a head on the socket memher having a horizontally arranged opening through it, a crank wheel, and a wrist pin on the crank wheel extended through said head, for the purposes stated.

5. In a gearing device of the cfass described, the combination of a main support, a hinged member on the main 'suppo t, a vertically arranged driven shaft in the hinged support, a pinion thereon, a segmental rack pivoted to the hinged support and in mesh with the pinion, said segmental rack having anal-1n fixed thereon, a pitman connected to said arm, an upright frame secured to the main support, a power shaft mounted on said upright frame, a pinion on the power shaft, a pulley on the power shaft, a gear wheel mounted on the upright frame and in mesh with said pinion, and a pitman connected to said gear wheel and to the arm on the segmental rack, said'pitman and said pulley being both arranged on the same side of the support toward which the hinged support moves when being elevated, for the purposes stated.

Des Moines, Iowa, January 23, 1911.

W'ILLIAM J. SCHOONOVER; Witnesses MARY \VALLACE, MABEL PETERSON. 

